The CSD has been the Secretariat of Coalition
2000 since its launch in 1998. In 2001 Coalition 2000
continued its efforts to be an initiator of comprehensive
anticorruption activities in Bulgaria. It extends the scope of the
public-private partnership, acts as a coordinator of various local
projects and organizes highprofile meetings and conferences.

1. A Public-Private Partnership

For a fourth consecutive year Coalition 2000
has worked towards public-private partnership in counteracting
corruption.

The most effective area for building such
partnerships are the policy aspects of anti-corruption. From this
perspective, in 2001 a landmark of the cooperation with government
and other nongovernmental institutions - both at expert and policy
level - was the development of the annual Corruption Assessment
Report 2001 (CAR).

At the end of 2001 the general political
environment for fighting corruption can be assessed as promising:
obviously, each change at the pinnacle of power creates
opportunities for public-private partnership in this respect,
especially at the initial stage of consolidation of public support
for the new incumbents in office.

Corruption Assessment Report
2001, p.7

The CAR is intended to assess the progress achieved along the
recommendation lines of the Action Plan and to recommend short term
actions. It presents a general evaluation of the state and dynamic
of corruption in Bulgarian society and the efforts to counteract
corruption. The CAR analyzes the changes which have occurred in
various public spheres and which have brought - or might bring
about - changes in corruption dynamics. The evaluation criteria
take into account reputable international analyses and domestic
indexes about the spread and the frequency of different forms of
corrupt behavior.

The 2001 CAR focused on the following issues:
Identify factors that contribute to the growth of corrupt practices
and assess economic costs of corruption;

Account for public perception of corrupt practices
and acceptance of corruption by the public;

Identify factors that currently constrain the
combat of corruption in Bulgaria;

The Report was produced through a several step process which
ensures both consensus building and comprehensiveness: drafting a
preliminary analysis paper; ensuring the input of the experts of
the stakeholder institutions; developing the text of the annual CAR
to be presented at the annual Coalition 2000 Policy
Forum.

The initial task of experts, as an already
established mechanism within the framework of the Coalition
2000 process, was to draft a preliminary paper covering the
institutional and legal environment for curbing corruption, reform
ofthe judicial system, corruption in the
economy, media and civil society, dynamics of corrupt behavior and
public attitudes and international anticorruption
cooperation.

The preliminary analysis paper was circulated
among all concerned institutions - governmental, non-governmental
and international - in order to solicit their comments and
additions. These included suggestions as to possible additional
action lines, and clarification of certain recommendations and
definitions.

Another significant step for the development
of the public-private partnership was the invitation of
Coalition 2000's experts to participate in the elaboration
of a National Strategy for Counteracting Corruption adopted
by the new government that came to power in June 2001. The National
Strategy, adopted in October, contains a chapter, dealing
especially with anti-corruption partnership between state
institutions, NGOs and the media. It reflects many of the measures
proposed by the Coalition 2000 Action Plan of 1998 and of
the Program for Judicial Reform, which was developed within the
framework of the Judicial Reform Initiative. The cooperation
between Coalition 2000 and the government in the development
of the Strategy exemplifies the importance of public-private
partnerships from the point of sustainability of anti-corruption
reforms - the anti-corruption capacity established within the
Coalition as a result of a number of civic initiatives was
instrumental for the development of public policy measures at a
crucial time of Bulgaria's reforms.

The Coalition 2000 input into the
policy making process was not limited to the development of the CAR
and the National Strategy, and included efforts in the fields of
public procurement and corporate governance. On October 31, a
discussion was organized by the Public Procurement Directorate of
the Council of Ministers on the amendments of the Law on Public
Procurement, which were to be submitted in the Bulgarian
Parliament by the Council of Ministers. Representatives of
Coalition 2000 and the Secretariat at CSD made a
contribution to the discussions.

At the same time, civil society organizations
within the Coalition continued to be very active in their
watchdog capacity. A Civic Council to monitor transparency in
financing the 2001 presidential election campaign was
established by representatives of three independent civil
organizations - Coalition 2000, the Transparency
International Bulgarian Chapter and Civil Society Against
Corruption. The major objective of the Civic Council was the
implementation of an independent ongoing andsubsequent civil control on fund-raising and fund expending
during the presidential election campaign. The Civil Council was
invited by the Committee nominating Mr. Petar Stoyanov and Judge
Nelly Koutzkova for President and Vice-President of the Republic to
carry out the monitoring. The members of the civic council had
access to the banking documents as well as to the financial and
accounting reports on the funding. The results of the
monitoring
were presented at a press conference.

2. A Watchdog and Public Awareness
Tool

The local anticorruption initiatives of
Coalition 2000, such as seminars, round tables, public
discussions and lectures, intended to popularize the concept of
civic control and monitoring of local government. In this respect,
the Coalition jointly with the Association of Municipalities
"Hebar" organized seminars on "Corruption and Local
Authorities" in Plovdiv and Pazardjic with the mayors and other
municipal representatives. Lectures on the issues of corruption and
anticorruption organized at the University of Shoumen andthe presentation of the Civic Association
"Ombudsman" in Stara Zagora were some of the other activities,
carried out by Coalition 2000. Anticorruption publications
of Coalition 2000 were presented during the "Week of the
Municipality" in the town of Rakovski, Plovdiv district. The New
Bulgarian University hosted a Round Table "Corruption and Success
of the Transition", jointly organized by the Political Science
Department and Coalition 2000.

The greatest awareness-raising effect was
unquestionably produced by the regularly published Corruption
Monitoring Indexes of Coalition 2000. As the main
product of the Corruption Monitoring System (CMS) developed
and implemented by Vitosha Research, they have become an effective
instrument for the analysis of corrupt practices in this country
and the assessment of the progress made by the anti-corruption
initiatives.

3. International Cooperation

In February Coalition 2000 hosted one
week anti-corruption study tour for officials of the Government of
Armenia, members of the National Assembly and key NGOs working in
the field of civil society and the rule of law. The working group
has just completed drafting a National Anti-Corruption Strategy.
They started the process of developing a Strategy during a study
tour to Bulgaria hosted by the Secretariat of Coalition
2000, the Center for the Study of Democracy (Sofia). The study
tour was aimed at launching a national anti-corruption program
for Armenia by sharing Coalition 2000's accomplishments
in coalition building, public-private partnership and regional
anticorruption cooperation.

The major international event of the
Coalition for 2001, the International Conference "Beyond
Anti-Corruption Rhetoric: Coalition Building and Monitoring
Impact," was held on March 23-24, 2001 in Sofia. Approximately
100 representatives of non-governmental organizations and public
officials from the countries of Southeast Europe as well as
representatives of bilateral aid agencies and international
organizations, such as USAID, OECD, the World Bank, the European
Union, UNDP, the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe took part in
the conference. Among the participants were also representatives of
state institutions and non-governmental organizations from the
Russian Federation, leaders of Bulgarian political parties and
Members of Parliament, the Ambassadors of the USA, UK, Germany,
Sweden, and members of foreign embassies and missions in
Sofia.

The purpose of this third international
conference was to review the experiences gained by the
Coalition in establishing public-private partnerships, to
assess the results and impact from implementing this
anti-corruption instrument, and to encourage further cooperation
among governmental and non-governmental organizations, especially
in Southeastern Europe, within the existing bilateral and
multilateral instruments against corruption and organized crime, as
a security building measure for the region in the framework of the
Stability Pact.

Corruption and trans-border crime, fighting
organized crime and the link between corruption and trafficking
were other issues brought to the discussion. Among the themes
explored were trafficking ingoods,
people, drugs and arms, money
laundering, and organized crime's impact on the individual,
society, economic development, and security and the democratization
process in the region. The tools developed in the countries of
Southeast Europe and the international instruments to which the
countries present have signed up to were also discussed.

In 2001, the Coalition laid the
groundwork for a long term cooperation with the George Marshall
European Center for Security Studies. In May a conference
entitled "Corruption within the Security Forces: A Threat to
National Security" was organized by George Marshall Center, the
US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the German Bundeskriminalamt
in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Its purpose was to provide a
forum for senior governmental officials, parliamentarians,
academics, and heads of non-governmental organizations to exchange
information and views on aspects of organized crime that pose a
potential threat to the national security and regional stability.
The conference focused on corruption of governmental officials and
processes within security forces: law enforcement, customs and
border control, and military services. This conference was the
second in a series of conferences hosted by the Marshall Center,
the FBI, and the BKA to examine the threat that organized crime
poses to national security and regional stability.

The second Partners in Transition
Conference sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) was held in Sofia September 10-11. Mr. Petar
Stoyanov, President of the Republic of Bulgaria, served as the host
of the conference. The Second Partners in Transition Conference
allowed the participants to discuss both formally and informally,
difficulties they have encountered along the road to building a
democratic society and establishing a marketoriented economy. The
theme, "Challenges of Transition," refers to some of the primary
obstacles to realizing a successful transition to a democratic
society and market-oriented economy.

The Bulgarian report was developed by a
working group of representatives of government agencies, the
judiciary and egislature, businesses association, media and NGOs
with the active participation of Coalition 2000. It was
presented at the conference by the representative of Coalition
2000, Mr. Boyko Todorov, Program Director of CSD and widely
reported in the Bulgarian media.

The British Embassy to Bulgaria and
Coalition 2000 jointly organized on September 19, 2001 a
discussion on the role of the UK Parliamentary Commissioner on
Public Standards. Ms. Elizabeth Filkin, the UK Parliamentary
Commissioner, delivered a lecture on "How the United Kingdom's
Parliament Tries to Win Public Respect: The Work of
the Parliamentary Commissioner on Public Standards". The lecture
was followedby a lunchtime discussion on
the experience gained by the United Kingdom authorities in this
important and challenging area of work with invitees from the
politicians, public officials, the Judiciary, NGOs, the diplomats,
representatives of international organizations, and
journalists.

A round table on "Corruption and
Anti-Corruption within Security Forces" took place at the CSD
on November 14. The US Embassy Legal Advisor Ms. Karen Kramer, Ms.
Linda M. Topping-Gonzalez, Assistant Inspector-General for
Congressional and Media Affairs at the U.S. Department of State,
Mr. Michael Berkow, Chief of Police in Irvine and Mr. Stanley A.
Boone, Office of the US Attorney, Department of Justice as well as
Coalition 2000 experts participated in the
discussion.

On November 14 the Center for the Study of
Democracy hosted "Transparency and Anti-Corruption in Public
Administration Activities" Round Table, jointly organized by
the Institute of Public Administration and European Integration
(IPAEI) and Coalition 2000. Following its target of
rendering support to public administration and civil organizations
in their strive to develop transparent governance procedures, the
Institute contributes to the increase of citizens' trust in public
administration. The Round Table was one of the steps in this
respect.

A Policy Briefing Coalition Building
and Monitoring for Anti-corruption featuring the impact of
Coalition 2000 and the Southeast European Legal Development
Initiative (SELDI) was organized by the Heritage Foundation, the
Center for International Private Enterprise, and the Center for the
Study of Democracy on July 12, 2001. Representatives of theDepartment of State, Department of Defense,
Department of Justice, USAID,Council on
Foreign Relations, World Bank, and others attended the briefing,
held at the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
The purpose of the policy briefing wasto
introduce the US policy and think tank community to the work of the
Southeast European Legal DevelopmentInitiative (SELDI) to diagnose and advocate for policy
reforms. The briefing focused on the impact of the shadow economy
and illegal trafficking in goods on governance structures in the
region and public-private models for cooperation. Comparative
corruption diagnostics for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania and Yugoslavia were
presented.

Bulgaria has led an anti-corruption initiative
and this should provide a positive model for neighboring countries
which face even stiffer challenges in combating corruption and
stimulating economic growth.

Stability and economic growth are dependent on
forging strong coalitions to create standards of integrity, expose
corruption, and advocate reforms. The mission of SELDI is to
encourage such coalitions in the private and public sectors
throughout the Balkan region. It is based on the Coalition
2000 experience which demonstrates that a determined citizenry
can demand better overnment and turn the tables on the
corrupt.